Nairobi residents to pay more for water with new tariffs

Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company has issued Nairobi residents with a one month notice before a new tariff is passed. The tariff will see water rates rise up to 93 per cent. Consumers who earlier enjoyed subsidized rates under the old pricing structure will have to pay the market rate as per the new tariff. Areas which receive water and sewerage services from Lake Victoria South Water Services Board and Rift Valley Water Services Board are also lined up for tariff increase.

To this effect, the two boards have given an intention to review their tariffs and have lined up public consultations slated for later in the month. Nairobians who consume an average of 20 cubic meters of water per month will part with about KES1, 674, up from the current KES868. On the other hand, low income earners who consume six cubic meters or less of water their monthly bills will go up from the current KES187.10 to a flat rate of KES204.Consequently, consumers of 50 cubic meters and above a month will pay an additional Sh1, 000 every month.

Public primary and secondary schools will now pay KES48 for every unit consumed below 600 cubic metres. This charge will rise to Sh55 per cubic meters above the first 600 units and it will be KES60 per cubic meters above 1,200 units. For water reconnection and deposit, consumers will pay to Sh2, 500 from Sh1, 200 for domestic consumers as water supply disconnection for default payment; one will pay KES1, 000. The new tariff structure will run from 2015-2018. Sewerage charges are 75 per cent of the amount charged on water units consumed and KES50 as meter rent.

According to Nairobi Water master plan study, Nairobi will require 1.2 billion litres of water daily by 2035. The USD1.9B (KES17, 290,000,000) blue print elaborates the least cost water supply infrastructure development options that are sequenced to incrementally meet Vision 2030.The overall goal is to ensure reliability and security of water supply for Nairobi and Satellite Towns.

This development will lead to rise in cost of living as at September inflation rate stood at 5.97 per cent from the previous 5.84 per cent in August. In January 2015, water services company, Athi Water Services Board announced that it will add new components in the water tariff to help raise infrastructure development and improve service delivery.

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